Jerome Yuchien's Ph.D Thesis
Chapter Seven: Lottery Gambling and The Three Deities (part II)
Why then, did the Nationalist Government ban the official lottery in 1988? The most vital reason is the prevalence of the illegal "Everybody Happy" Lottery which the winning numbers is based on the official lottery. Actually, the impact of the illegal Lottery has been massive and is one of most important cultural phenomena in these years (Hu Taili 1991:125). Several years ago, when it came to its apex, on the dates the result of the Lottery were announced, "the streets were almost empty like in times of air raids" (Hu Taili 1991:132) and the overload on the telephone system routinely paralyzed inter-city communications (Davis 1992:426). Some observers, therefore, said that the Lottery's Bettors (I shall call them "the Bettors" hereinafter) were running crazy.(note.6)
Among these above mentioned stone/tree deities, the Stone God of Ho-peng Ward (#S15; see figure 15), the stone Granny of Ho-peng Ward (#S16; see figure 16), the Stone God of Khe-te Hamlet (#S34; see figure 36) and the Stone God of Tang-si Town (#S59) are deities apotheosised by the Bettors. We can find incense trays put publicly on the altars of the stone Land God of Ai-liau Hamlet (#S31; see figure 33), the Stone God of Ka-hin Ward (#S35; see figure 37), the stone Turtle of Ken-ki Road (#S56) and the Divine Tree of Pen-teng Ward (#T19; see figure 85). On the altars of the Stone God of Pat-li Rural-town (#S52; see figures 56 & 57) and the Tree God of So.-o Urban-town (#T10; see figure 75), we can find a lot of cigarette butts used as incense or as offerings.(note.7) I was told that the winning numbers of the lottery can be sometimes revealed on the face of the Stone God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#S58; see figure 63) and on the incense ash of the stone Land God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#S61; see figure 65). I was also told that the Stone God of Tham-te Ward (#S57; see figure 62) should appear and reveal the winning numbers on the dreams of those who sleep beside it. Moreover, when I came to visit them for the first time, the neighbours of the stone Land God of San-tiau Hill (#S23; see figure 25), the stone Good Brothers of San-tiau Hill (#S24; see figure 26), the Tree God of Kim-bin Ward (#T6; see figure 71), the Tree God of Lam-huin Ward (#T37) and the Tree God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#T38; see figure 104) all mistook me for a gambler who was trying to discover the winning numbers.
My field record was verified by the reports of various field researchers. According to Hu Taili (1991:133-52), the Good Brothers, the Stone God, the Third Prince, the Land God, Jigong (the Crazy Monk) are popular deities that the illicit lottery Bettors like to consult. According to Lin Mei-rong (1987:65), the Land God and the Tree God are connected with the illicit lottery Bettors. According to Yuan Chang-rue (1993:12), the Tree God is involved in the gambling divination.
I claim that the transformation is not only a religious response to modernity but also, to a certain degree, a resistance against the pressures on this worship. My claim can be supported by the analysis of the divination instruments the Bettors use and the deities they revere for predicting the winning numbers of the Lottery.
Gambling, like prostitution, is ancient, widespread, and widely disapproved in Chinese society as elsewhere in the world.(note.8) It flourishes, in spite of ethical taboo and legal sanction, as an institutionalised deviant pattern and as a form of crime in which the victims are willing accomplices (Paton 1917:163; Bergler 1958:229; Devereux 1968:53). (note.9)
Gambling may be defined as a form of activity in which the parties involved, who are known as bettors or players, voluntarily engage to make the transfer of money or something else of value among themselves contingent upon the outcome of some future and uncertain event (Devereux 1968:53). Dealing with unpredictable and uncertain events, the Taiwanese lottery gamblers, similar to those of many other places in the world, are likely to turn to divination with the supernatural as a source of help to win the lottery.(note.10) They believe that through divination with the supernatural, deities will predict and reveal the winning numbers of the lottery to them so that they can bet and win.
IV. Divination Instruments:
Divination is the method of discovering the personal, human significance of future, present or past events with the help of the supernatural. Instruments for divination with the supernatural in Chinese popular religion are many, and selection among them depends upon a number of factors, including the nature of the question to be put, the intricacy required in the response, the amount of money one is able to spend, the personnel involved in the manipulation and interpretation of the instruments and one's relations with these people, the usual mode of communication used by the supernatural agent one wishes to consult, and various other factors (cf. Jordan 1985:60). In theory, anything can be used to divine the meaning of events. It is very common to assign spontaneous and arbitrary meaning to signs or omens when one is deeply anxious about the outcome of a personal situation. But the cultural form of divinatory methods and signs is seldom entirely random: each one expresses a specific logic (Suesse 1987:375).
According to Hu Taili, the commonest instruments of divination for the revealing of the winning numbers of the illicit lottery are through the Moon Blocks, divination verses, dream, incense tray, shamans and so on. Some even observe natural phenomena for hints (1991:133-52). Similarly, Yuan Chang-rue (1993:11) and Lin Mei-rong (1987:72) both report that the Bettors can get some hints from the incense tray put on the altar of the deities and from the ash of incense stick. In the following sections, I depict seven divination instruments which are usually used by the Lottery Bettors of my field sites.
1, Moonblock Throwing:
Let us begin with the analysis of "throwing moonblocks" (pua-pei). Throwing moonblocks is the commonest divination practice used in the Chinese popular religion and is popular among gamblers. Most of the temples (or shrines) visited by me provide moonblocks for divination. The moonblocks (sometimes translated in English as moonboards or divination blocks) are the two pieces of bamboo root, each cut into the shape of a crescent moon, rounded on one surface and flat on the other (cf. Jordan 1985:61). The two pieces are mirror images of one another, and if the flat sides are placed against each other, the pair looks as though it were a single block of bamboo root. In divination these objects are held out upon the two palms, raised to the level of the forehead of the standing or kneeling worshipper, and allowed to drop on the floor. There are two positions in which each block can land: rounded side up or rounded side down. Therefore there are three combinations of positions: both blocks might land flat side downward, both might land rounded side downward, or each might land differently (Jordan 1985:61). This last combination is taken to indicate agreement by the deity with the proposition as stated, briefly a "yes" response. The question is typically presented in a murmured silent prayer and the blocks thrown and dropped. If they indicate an affirmative, they are thrown again. A validly affirmative reply requires three positive falls running, and the occurrence of a negative reply either requires the reconstruction of the question and another attempt, or requires that one give up (cf. Jordan 1985:62; Sangren 1987:55). Since this is the most secret divination practice, it is welcomed by the Bettors.
2, Lot-sticks and Verse Drawing:
Sometimes, the Bettors go to temples where they can make use of the oracle verses (chhiam-si). On the altar or beside the altar there is a container of bamboo lot-sticks each bearing numbers from one to sixty or from one to one hundred. When divining, one shakes the container until a lot-stick falls out of the container. The lot-stick is then confirmed by the throwing of moonblocks. If it is a "yes" response, one goes to tear off a sheet of numbered paper usually displayed on a board at one side of a temple according to the numbered lot-stick. The paper contains an oracle verse of four lines which are difficult to interpret. In some large temples, a custodian who is also a ritual expert would be ready to interpret. If an expert is not available, one can still seek a standard answer by consulting the interpretation book kept beside the oracle verses (cf. Jordan 1985:64; Feuchtwang 1992:107). However, for some simple questions such as predicting the winning numbers or such, the Bettors usually seek the answer from the numbers of the lot-stick or by getting a clue from the quick answers printed on bottom the verse paper etc.
3, Chair Writing:
It is said that the divination of a specific chair (Kio-a, I shall call it "the divination chair" hereinafter) is effective for predicting the winning numbers of the Lottery. The divination chair is a small wooden seat, usually about twenty centimeters on a side and about twenty-five or thirty centimeters high at the back. Divination by means of the small chair is accomplished by two men holding it by its legs in an upright position before an altar while incense is burned and the relevant supernatural agent is requested to descend into the divination chair. His descent is indicated by the onset of motion in the chair, particularly bouncing motion. At length the divination chair leans forward and with an ear-splitting crash descends upon a table, prepared in advance with a protecting surface of wood or burlap, and traces winning numbers upon it. These winning numbers are considered to be revealed by the possessing deity. The numbers traced upon the table are usually unclear, and a good deal of study of each number is necessary before it is correctly understood. Sometimes one even has to ask the deity to retrace the numbers three or four times before an acceptable interpretation is finally proposed by the person in charge of reading what the divination chair traces (cf. Jordan 1985:65-6).
